Beautiful Oslo from Bicycle Seats and Bus Front Row
Day 109, Grand World Voyage
Saturday, April 22, 2023; Oslo, Norway.
As we travel farther north, we shiver in the cooler temperatures. We forget that here in Norway, residents are reveling after a cold winter in the comparatively warmer temperatures of their approaching spring. So, it should have been no surprise that on this crisp — but sunny — day, everyone is outdoors.
Sidewalk cafes are packed with no seats to be found. Busy streets are lined with pedestrians, taking full advantage of every road crossing that gives them right of way. Other streets are blocked for a marathon, accompanied by shorter races.
I saw it all from the front row of the top deck of the Hop-On, Hop-Off bus that spent two hours circling the capital of Norway.
For the cruise ship, the tour bus line decided to add on some additional roads, but didn’t let us know. We were perplexed as the bus traveled down narrow residential streets only to turn around in cul-de-sacs and head back out. They thought we would enjoy seeing more than just the commercial areas.
The marathon stopped our progress for a short period as we waited for the most elite runners to cross the road coming from the Royal Palace gardens. We circled the downtown commercial area a couple of times and then headed to the outskirts for the residential tour and finally to a point of land a long drive from the ship’s pier, but in actuality just across the water.
Here were three popular museums, the Norweigian Maritime Museum, the Fram Museum and the Kon-Tiki Museum. The moai outside the latter museum reminded me of Easter Island. Originally I booked on a tour rated “easy” to these sites, but was later told that lots of walking was involved so I passed on it.
I turned on my phone tracker for the HOHO bus ride – we saw a good bit of the city!
Eloise and Elaine followed our original plan, which was a bicycle tour of Oslo. Despite some initial confusion from the tour company about where the ship would be docked, they enjoyed the trip. Eloise said the biggest challenge was dodging people, strollers, other bikes and vehicles on some busy streets and walkways. Elaine was amazed at the number of swimmers in the cold water.
I had dinner tonight in the Lido, which drew quite a crowd. I think people decide not to dress for dinner after long days of touring. Not that we dress up much for dinner, but I almost always change for the dining room.
Norway promises some wonderful sails in and out of ports, which normally are tucked away from the harshness of the sea.
In these colder days, I enjoy the view from my cabin, and the Crow’s Nest is a popular place for sail-ins. Cruise Director Ian Page provides commentary.
During our evening sail-away from Oslo we saw some beautiful houses and cabins along the rocky shores. The days are growing longer as we travel north, so we have beautiful views until bedtime.
